


Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

by Duck_Life



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Blankets, Child Neglect, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lonnie Loves Her Friends, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 10:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11598654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Lonnie learns that none of the Rotten-To-The-Core-4 have ever been tucked in before bed. She decides to fix that.





	Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

Lonnie knows they’ve still got a lot of work to do for magical marine biology class, but her head feels so heavy and she can’t stifle the yawns that spring up every few minutes. And all the terms and definitions are getting muddled up in her head anyway, sirens and mermaids and krakens and nymphs, it’s just too much. She’s pretty certain she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between King Triton and Nemo right now. 

Mal’s on the same page. “Okay! That’s enough,” she announces, slamming her textbook shut. The two of them lie sprawled out on Mal’s bed while Evie reads her book for fairy tale literature across the room. “I’m ready to slip into an enchanted coma for a hundred years. Jeez, where’s Mom when you need her?” 

She’s being sarcastic and light, but Lonnie can tell there’s a twinge of heartache there. Maleficent’s currently serving time as a tiny lizard in a glass jar, somewhere where she can’t taunt or harm Mal or anyone else, but it’s still gotta be difficult. Lonnie doesn’t know how she’d deal with that, knowing your mother wasn’t good or kind to you or anyone else, but knowing you still loved her. 

She shakes her head, letting the sad thoughts slide away along with all the ocean terminology buzzing around up there. “You’re right,” she says, packing away her study materials and tucking them into her messenger bag. (She’s got pins on the bag, “She/Her/Hers,” “Show Me Your Warrior Face,” “Let’s Get Down To Business,” “Ladies Don’t Start Fights But They Can Finish Them.”) “We’ll just study more tomorrow.”

“ _ Lonnie _ ,” Mal whines, flopping back in her four-poster bed. “C’mon, my  _ brain _ hurts. Why do we need to study anyway? We can just copy off of Melody, she knows all about that undersea crap.”

Lonnie swats at her playfully. “Cheating is  _ wrong _ , Mal.”

Mal sticks her tongue out at her. “I said I was  _ good _ , not  _ goody-goody _ .” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Lonnie scoops up Mal’s stuff and unceremoniously deposits it on the desk by the door. “Evie, you ready for bed, too?”

Evie stretches and yawns, setting her book on her nightstand. “Yep, ’m sleepy,” she says. 

“Alrighty then, I’ll flip off the lights before I leave,” Lonnie says, heading back to Mal’s bed to say goodbye. 

Mal looks up at her. “You know I can just do that with magic, right?” she says. “The lights I mean.”

“That’s bad for the circuitry,” Lonnie says, unamused. And she grabs the corner of Mal’s quilt and tugs it up around her shoulders. 

Mal stares at her like she just turned into a cricket. “Whaaaaaaaat are you doing?”

Lonnie blinks. “Tucking you in?” she says. All she did was pull the blanket over Mal, but Mal looks as shocked as if she just tossed a pail of water at her. 

“So you can what? Flip me off the bed?” Mal says, eyes wide. 

Lonnie looks astounded. “N-no, no, Mal, just… just tucking you in so you’re… comfy?” she says, bewildered. Mal still looks utterly baffled, and then it sinks in. “No one’s… ever done this for you before, have they?” 

Mal shrinks down under the quilt, sinking against her pillow. “No,” she says in a small voice. “Is it some kind of a princess thing?”

“Well, if you were a princess I’d have stuck a pea under your mattress, too,” Lonnie jokes. It falls flat. “Uh, no, it’s not like a princess thing per se. I… I mean,  _ I’m _ not a princess, and my parents always used to tuck me in every night before I went to sleep. They’d both come in my room and make sure I was all snuggly and then they’d read me a fable or my  mama would sing to me, and then they’d kiss me goodnight.” 

Mal looks completely, heartbreakingly confused. “They did that every single night before you went to sleep?” 

“Well… yeah.” Out of the corner of her eye, Lonnie sees Evie listening intently. “I mean, up until a certain age. But sometimes still, you know. It’s just. Nice.” 

Mal takes this new information in, settling a little against her mattress. “Um… okay, okay, do it again. I’m ready this time.”

Smiling, Lonnie pulls the quilt higher, up to Mal’s chin, and wraps it inward so the other girl’s comfortably cocooned in her blanket. “Goodnight, Mal,” Lonnie says, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. 

She pretends not to see Mal’s blush, but honestly, that girl’s paler than the moon. And the pink that rises to her cheeks is adorable.

“Lonnie?” Evie calls out before Lonnie can leave the room. “Can… can you tuck me in, too?”

“Of course,” Lonnie says, crossing to Evie’s bed. She pulls the covers up to Evie’s neck and pats them down, making sure Evie’s safe and snug. “Goodnight, Evie,” she says, kissing her on the forehead.

Evie grins and says sweetly, “Goodnight, Lonnie!” 

“Sleep tight, you two,” Lonnie says, switching the lights off before she leaves. 

In the hall, she lets her smile fade, lets the sadness hit her, just for a second. Those girls are so good-hearted, so kind and generous and brave, and they just… they deserve the world. Sometimes Lonnie wishes Auradon’s leadership would have decided to let the kids cross over years and years ago, before people like Mal and Evie had a chance to get raised by people like Maleficent and the Evil Queen. 

They could have had childhoods like her, waking up in the morning to sunshine and the smell of porridge, playing in the yard with Little Brother, sitting in her grandfather’s lap and listening to old war stories. 

Well. She can do what she can do, nothing more and nothing less. 

Lonnie crosses the hall to Carlos and Jay’s room. 

“Hey, hey, hey, no trespassing!” Jay squawks out before he actually sees her come in. “Oh, hey Lonnie!” 

“Hey, boys,” she says. They’re both in their beds, Jay playing with a cootie catcher, Carlos cuddling Dude. “That dog’s not supposed to be on the bed, you know,” she says without any real sternness in her voice. 

“Yeah!” Jay says, acting like Ollie the campus cat isn’t currently snuggled up in his lap. 

Lonnie gets right to it. “Do you guys mind if I tuck you in?” 

“No,” Carlos says with a shrug. “I think. Maybe. Wait, what does ‘tucking in’ mean?”

“It’s like punching someone out, right?” Jay says, miming a left hook without disrupting Ollie. “Bam!”

“No,” Lonnie says. “Like… tucking you into bed. So you’re comfortable before you go to sleep? It’s something my parents used to do.”

“... Oh,” Jay says, looking down at Ollie. “Yeah, okay, that sounds... okay.” 

“Me first,” Carlos says, even though he still looks confused.

Lonnie rolls her eyes and strides over. He, apparently, got the sheets and blankets all twisted up at the foot of the bed, and she has to untangle them before she can drape them over Carlos. Dude yips and runs out from under the covers, meandering down to the foot of the bed before curling up next to Carlos’ feet. Lonnie smoothes the comforter down over Carlos’ arms and then bends over the bed to kiss him on the forehead. “Goodnight, Carlos.” 

His face lights up when he grins. “’Night, Lonnie.” 

She crosses the room to Jay’s bed and starts pulling the blankets over his legs. Carefully, he scoops up Ollie and sets him on the pillow next to him and lies down so Lonnie can cover him up with his duvet. “Goodnight, Jay,” she says, kissing him on the forehead. 

Jay quirks an eyebrow up at her, but then he smiles. “Goodnight, Lonnie.” 

She kisses Ollie on the top of the head and gives Dude a scratch behind the ears before she turns off the light and leaves the boys alone to rest. Across the hall, Mal and Evie have probably already drifted to sleep. 

Hopefully, they’ll all have good dreams tonight. 

 


End file.
